7.  The applicants, who are relatives, were born in 1912 and 1966 respectively. Their place of residence is unknown.
8.  At the material time the applicants lived in a privately owned house at 167 Ulyanova Street in the Oktyabrskiy District of Grozny.
9.  According to the applicants, on 29 March 2000 a group of federal servicemen in two armoured personnel carriers with obscured hull numbers approached the applicants' house. The servicemen were masked and had the Russian Armed Forces emblem on their sleeves. One of them pointed his machine gun at the second applicant, who was standing near the gate, and ordered him not to move. The soldiers then entered the courtyard of the applicant's house and one of them asked the first applicant whether she was of Chechen origin. When the first applicant said that she was, the servicemen further asked her whether Chechen rebel fighters (boyeviki) were living in the house. The first applicant replied that no fighters had ever lived in her house, that she lived there with the second applicant, and that they had never been involved in military activities.
10.  The servicemen then broke the door down and entered and searched the house. They remarked, turning to the first applicant, that her living conditions were quite good and that apparently it was the house of some Chechen field commander. The soldiers then sprayed the walls inside the house with petrol and set it on fire. The house, with the applicants' possessions inside it, was completely burnt down.
11.  On an unspecified date the applicants complained to the Oktyabrskiy District Office of the Interior of Grozny (“the Oktyabrskiy VOVD”) that federal servicemen had burnt their house down.
12.  On 5 April 2000 the Oktyabrskiy VOVD decided to dispense with criminal proceedings on the grounds that it was impossible to establish to which military unit the servicemen involved in the arson attack belonged.
13.  According to the Government, on 24 January 2006 the decision of 5 April 2000 was set aside and criminal proceedings were instituted under Article 167 § 2 of the Russian Criminal Code (aggravated deliberate destruction of, or infliction of damage on, property) in connection with the incident of 29 March 2000. The investigation was under the supervision of the Prosecutor General's Office.
14.  On 19 September 2000 the local authorities drew up an evaluation report (дефектный акт), which listed the items of the applicants' property that had been destroyed on 29 March 2000.
15.  On an unspecified date the applicants obtained an estimate of costs for repair works to be carried out on their house.
16.  On 11 October 2001 the applicants brought proceedings in the Oktyabrskiy District Court of Grozny (“the District Court”), seeking damages in connection with the deliberate destruction of their property by the federal servicemen.
17.  On 6 November 2001 the District Court held that the applicants' claims “could not be allowed in court proceedings” on the ground that the alleged damage should be compensated in accordance with the temporary regulations concerning compensation and other social benefits for Russian citizens who had suffered damage as a result of the military conflict in the Chechen Republic, and therefore the applicants should apply to a local migration service for compensation.
18.  On 5 March 2002 the Supreme Court of the Chechen Republic upheld the above judgment on appeal, having repeated the reasoning of the first-instance court.
19.  The applicants did not apply for compensation in accordance with the ruling of the domestic courts.